1989
by hpfanfreak06
Summary: A collection of stories and drabbles inspired by Taylor Swift's album, 1989.
1. Welcome to New York

A/N: I listened to this album so many times, it put the stories in my head, just begging to be written. Before I go to bed, I'm going to write a good portion of the next chapter for my story "I'll Close My Eyes, and I'll See You." Promise it's coming. Meanwhile, enjoy this collection! I have most of them written, and cross your fingers they're all up tomorrow. Reviews are love!

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, or "1989".

-Welcome to New York-

Truth is, he got lucky on his first day. Drove into the city in his old pick up and mostly everything he owned, without a plan. He had about $3500 to his name, saved up from summer jobs he didn't really have to have. His mother inherited every thing his father left when he died, some ski accident up in Colorado with his secretary.

But he knew early on, even as a kid, he didn't want any of it. There was something about being handed so much that made him feel a little less pure. So he left Lima, OH a note for his mother on the kitchen counter.

She never did call.

Anyway, he figured he might find some cheap hotel outside the city, stay there until he found an apartment. But then he stopped at some coffee shop because it looked interesting and he was tired, and there in the window was a bright blue flier asking for a roommate.

He called the number, curious, and this girl answered the phone.

Rachel Berry was her name, all five feet and a couple inches. She was trying to make it on Broadway, without school or any kind of proper training. Just her voice, and some agent she found on the internet. He liked her, she was nice and didn't give him crap when he told her where he came from.

They lived in this giant loft, sectioned off into private areas, with one bathroom and a tiny corner kitchen. He took the space by the window, fit a bed from a local thrift store, a dresser and this crooked desk in his "bedroom."

In the beginning it was just him and Rachel and this guy named Kurt, who was really into fashion and had a boyfriend. He worked at this café with Rachel, where they wore fifty style uniforms and sang a jukebox song every half hour. While he himself spent days working at a local record shop.

They would stay up late eating take out, sharing stories of lives so long ago and waiting for the world to hand them their dreams. It was comforting, fun.

Until Kurt got attacked.

After that, Blaine (the boyfriend) moved in. No one wanted Kurt walking home alone, especially if there were assholes that hurt others because of who they loved.

So there were four.

It took about a year before he realized that Rachel was more than his roommate. He started noticing her hair and how nice it was that she left him his own plate in the fridge when he got home late from work. But, he kept quiet, because roommates and all.

Until he found her crying in her "room" one night after some asshole casting director told her she wasn't pretty enough. She cried on his shoulder while he told her otherwise.

They were closer after that. Not in love, but closer.

Kurt and Blaine moved out before Christmas. They found a safer area (more "friendly" as Blaine called it), and it was just two.

A friend of his from high school, Noah Puckerman, showed up at their doorstep one afternoon. Apparently his mother had given Puck his address. Rachel caved only because they really couldn't afford the rent between the two of them.

They stayed in the city for Christmas. He lugged up a real tree and they decorated it with handmade ornaments and a strand of colored lights. Rachel made the best sugar cookies he had ever tasted.

Puck thought it would be hilarious to put mistletoe in the doorway, and all of them had narrowly avoided it, until Christmas Eve when he helped Rachel take out the trash and well…yeah they kissed.

They were in love after that.

Kisses in corners of used book stores, and arms wrapped around arms.

Rachel got her big break in March. Some musical called "Funny Girl" was being revived and Rachel was their lead. He took her out and they had dinner and he brought flowers and everything. And he doesn't know if there was something in the air that night that gave him courage he didn't know he had, but he asked her to spend the rest of her life with him.

Somehow she said yes.

Life moved fast after that. He and Rachel found their own shoe box apartment and Puck found a girl. The critics loved Rachel and he decided to get a teaching degree.

Every time he steps out into the city, onto a sidewalk covered in pieces of gum and cigarette butts, he feels a new energy. He doesn't stop to think if they'll ever run out.

They all came here alone, found each other through "Roommate Wanted" fliers and empty apartment floors. This city was waiting for them, it's this great, real, true love that doesn't stop changing. He likes being on his toes.


	2. Blank Space

**Author's Note: I wrote this before the video came out. Which told a completely different story. Enjoy!**

"Blank Space"

She has a long list of ex-lovers, each one leaving in a "You're insane."

It's not true, not really, she's a just a diva, knows what she wants. There's a moment where she thinks she'll stay alone for a while. That is until Quinn drags her to this party and she see's him from across the room.

New suit and tie, the dream smile to match.

Walking up to him she knows it's a new line she's delivering.

"So, this either forever, or we'll go down in flames. What do you say?"

When he laughs, she adds him to the empty space on her list.


	3. Style

"Style"

Sometimes she feels like groupie when she's next to him.

Finn's the drummer for New Directions, a recent hit in the teenage pop scene. Catering to girls under twenty. (But she knows Finn has this green notebook, filled with lyrics that say "I love you" in more than just the literal sense. It makes her wonder when he'll break loose.)

Every time they leave through a door, and even if it's into some alley way, hundreds of fans always find them. Sometimes she thinks Finn would rather have one of the many that scream his name at every corner.

She tries to remind herself that she's known him since high school, when they were just them and the world didn't care whether Finn wore boxers or briefs.

And yeah, they've broken up a few times, because being young means just what it says. But coming back was never hard, well it was the last time. When she saw photo's of him with another girl, all smiles and perfect legs.

She really thought it was over, until his step dad was in the hospital and he leaned on her and she knew he would stay forever.

So yeah, sometimes when she wears her red lipstick, and he's got that white t-shirt on, she feels like maybe this is a dream and she's just some fan.

But when people turn their heads, and other girls look jealous, she feels like a rock star.


	4. Out of the Woods

"Out of the Woods"

She doesn't know where he finds it or where it came from. But he takes it out and holds it above them, as they're lying on his couch.

A blinding flash, and then it prints. A murky white, until their faces bleed through and it's full of color.

Staring at it, she wonders if they've made it yet.

* * *

><p>They fall apart the first time right before Christmas.<p>

Things are said and forgiven, and somehow they put it all back together.

In the middle of the living room, the furniture moved, a song about love playing as they danced. His necklace around her neck, swaying along with her.

* * *

><p>He had this red car, shiny and new, like they once were.<p>

Somehow he hits the breaks too soon. Calling her crying on the phone from a stale hospital room.

Twenty stitches and tears.

* * *

><p>She storms out once. Before coming back, when he's asleep in the bed they both picked out.<p>

When the sun came up, they saw it.

A break in the trees, the road in sight.


	5. All You Had To Do Was Stay

"All You Had to Do Was Stay"

There's only so many times she can slam the door, only to open it again.

He left, came back begging for her to take him in. And she would, because when there's something or someone you want, you'll do anything to keep it.

Vases have filled every part of her apartment, in corners under the kitchen sink and barely used tables. Sometimes when the sun comes through the windows, just right, the colors collide and she thinks that maybe what they have is beautiful.

Until she remembers the dried petals resting on the bottom. No color, not really, and certainly no life.

When he comes back the next time, the door stays closed.


	6. Shake it Off

"Shake it Off"

They hate her. The first time she read a negative review, she cried into her pillow for three hours. And while there are plenty of good ones to go around, it's hard to ignore the rest.

But somewhere down the line, after she spent so much time trying to prove to these assholes that she was worth something, she stopped caring.

Smiled at the flashes behind trashcans and kept her head up.

Let them talk.


	7. I Wish You Would

"I Wish You Would"

She's in his car, passenger side, windows down. Some song about love blasting from the speakers.

It's been two years. But somehow she's next to him again, a place still familiar.

Santana left with Brittany, she didn't want to ask him for a ride.

It's awkward, and she knows he thinks she hates him. She could never.

They fought, on the phone at 3am. Screaming and crying and yelling and words.

She hung up, pressed the red button and threw it all away.

When he drops her off, she says thank you, he stares straight ahead, doesn't speak. But the streetlight beams on his face, his eyes say everything.

Later when headlights pass by her window, she starts thinking of him, he doesn't leave her mind, like an itch that can't be scratched.

She stays awake, until dawn breathes through her windows. His number is still in her phone and she knows she can't rest until he knows.

_I don't hate you_

A moment later her phone buzzes.

_I don't hate you either. _

It's not a long conversation, with confessions, and boxes of Kleenex.

But, it's hope.


	8. Bad Blood

She hates him.

At first it was a crushing, puddle on the floor, pint of ice cream hate. Now, when his name is mentioned, her blood boils.

So she feels a bit of vindication when she's sitting in a stunning dress, hearing her name.

The applause follows her up to the stage. And when she looks out on that audience, the deception, the heart break, and the raw eggs just don't matter.

Jesse St. James can suck it.

(The image of him fuming in front of a television in Lima (she heard he's only been cast in chorus parts, locally of course) is pretty fantastic.)


	9. Wildest Dreams

"Wildest Dreams"

She meets him in a crowded club. Sweaty bodies and music synced to heartbeats. They find each other across the room, he's at the bar, perfect hair and just the right leather jacket. She's in a booth, a pink drink in her hand, waiting for Quinn to decide it's time to leave.

They just stare, for a while. Until he finally comes over, sits next to her, he smells like aftershave and teenage dreams.

He whispers through the constant noise, "Let's get out of here."

Maybe it's the club itself, or this look in his eyes, but for reasons she can't explain she follows him out.

They drive out of the city, in his shiny car. He plays old rock and roll on the stereo and steals glances.

When they stop, he opens her door and takes her hand, leading her to the front door of a house on the shore.

When he picks her up and starts kissing her, she doesn't stop to think if she's the first girl he's taken here.

The rest of the night is a tangle of sheets and ocean breezes.

Morning comes and the day is spent in bed. Until she decides she can't breathe and throws on her dress from the night before.

The ocean stares back her and she can feel him behind her, up on the balcony memorizing her, as she watches the sunset.

He takes her home after that.

* * *

><p>She never thought she would see him again. Her one night stand dressed in leather. They had an unspoken agreement, no one had to know what they were doing.<p>

But two weeks later she's at that club again. Quinn doesn't like going without her.

Somehow he finds her again and this time she pulls him back to her apartment. His clothes are in her room, scattered on her favorite chair and the floor.

She starts to let herself wonder where this could go. If it has any movement at all.

Until it's late at night and she hears his voice. On the phone, talking in whispered excuses.

She turns over into her pillow, realizing she's just the other.

Even though she wants to hold onto everything this is, her morals are stronger than that (at least she tells herself they are).

When she tells him to "Please leave" she see's something other than lust in his eyes. And for a moment she wants to take it all back and tell him, "Stay."

Instead she lets him go without explanation, from neither him, nor her.

Only telling him to see her again, standing in that dress, basking in the sunset.

It's all she wants from him.

For some reason, she doesn't cry. Only wonders.


	10. How You Get the Girl

"How You Get the Girl"

Rachel Berry never fancied herself the star of a romantic comedy. A star yes (her voice alone gives her the credentials), but laughing at the right times, flowers everyday, perfect romance, never.

But suddenly without her knowledge or consent, her life had become one.

Of course that was six months ago.

She meet's Finn outside of this bar on New Years Eve.

People in party hats, bottles of champagne sloshing in their hands.

Standing outside in the cool city air, she see's him across the way. Cigarette in his mouth. He places it there, just for a moment, before throwing it to the ground, in indifference.

Instead of running away she laughs and he hears her.

"What's so funny?"

"You just wasted an entire cigarette. Now, I'm not a smoker, Broadway and all, but it seems like a waste."

"It's been a long night, one of my buddies thought I could use one, turns out it's disgusting."

"What could be so bad that it causes one to consider smoking? Date kiss someone else?"

He smirks, mouth turning upwards, it's adorable.

"Something like that."

"Come on, don't leave me hanging! I need something to make this night at least a little interesting."

"Without going into full detail, I caught my girlfriend in the men's bathroom."

"Was he better looking? Because I don't see how that's possible."

"She was brunnete. Long legs, perfect tan."

"That's just mean! Your night has been pretty terrible. Question though, why were they in the men's room?"

"Something about how no one goes in there. Either way, I had to get out. So what's your story, why are you standing outside alone on New Years?"

"Oh, um, I was stood up. It's okay though, I wasn't really that interested anyway."

"Well, whoever he is, he's an idiot."

She blushes, because she can tell he's being sweet.

"So it looks like we've got about a minute until midnight. Are you going to head back in, join the party?"

"Nah, I'm having more fun out here. Plus you know, lesbian girlfriend and all."

"Right. Out here is better."

There shouts of "10-9-8" coming from all around.

She looks up at the sky and wishes for a better year. When she brings her head down, he's there.

And that is how it all starts.

What followed was an exchange of phone numbers, coffee dates, and walks through the city.

They were in love, fresh and new, and unexpected.

Her friends loved him, she loved his mother. She could see it, years ahead.

Maybe that's why he left.

It was a Wednesday, they were supposed to have dinner at her place.

When he's an hour late and hasn't called (or returned her multiple texts) she starts panicking and calls his best friend (the one with the cigarettes).

She finds out he got some new fancy job, on the west coast. Where the girls never loose their tan, and it rarely rains. He didn't tell her, and she doesn't know why.

A year of her life. The best year.

His number changes after a month, she knows because she tried every day. That's when she stops being angry, and the sadness, rip out heartbreak comes.

Her friends try to help her. Really they do. Blaine takes her for coffee three days a week, while simultaneously being the psychiatrist she refuses to make an appointment with.

"Why did he leave me Blaine ? I don't understand. We were in love right? I mean when you looked at us you thought, "Oh look how in love they are."

"Rachel, I know you miss him, but the guy just left you without any kind of notice, to hop a plane to disgusting Los Angeles, and change his number. You are better than that."

"I know, it's just we were together for an entire year! Who does that anyway? Leave someone you say you love for a job?"

"It's been three months, don't you think it's time you moved on?"

She absolutely hates when people say that. Because no one ever moves on. It's impossible concept that has become somehow justified in saying. No she can't move on.

But eventually, she does get a little stronger, the days are better, brighter. She cuts her hair and get's the role of her dreams. (Funny Girl, she can hardly believe it.)

Everything starts looking up.

So, here she is six months later, better than she was before, staring at Finn.

He's covered in rain, soaked through the hoodie he's wearing, hair matted to his forehead.

"He Rach-"

"Are you insane?!"

"Look I have-"

"No, you do not get to speak. Not on my stage! You left me. Without a phone call, text, or a "Hey Rachel, so I'm moving." Nothing. I found out from Noah of all people. What hell is wrong with you?"

"It's been a long sixth months, I know. But I was afraid."

She's honestly too angry to care, but that doesn't stop her curiosity.

"Afraid of what exactly? Me? Us? What?"

"All of it. You were this perfect accident that came into my life and I could see it all with you, which is why I ran. Every relationship I've ever had has ended in the worst ways. Kim dumped me the night of senior prom, Hannah was still in love with her ex, and well you know what happened with Quinn. But you…you stayed for longer than any of them. You held my hand when my step dad had that scare, you went shopping with my mom, she's never done that with any of my other girlfriends. And not just that, I miss you. The way you smell right after a shower, when you're humming while making oatmeal in the morning, the way you never for not even a second, let anyone tell you you're not good enough. I didn't think when I took that job, about you or us. And I'm sorry. But I'm willing to do anything to have it back, because I want you. Forever and ever."

Her brain tells her to shut the door in his face. He left her, never told her why. But her heart, oh her heart, tells her to let him in.

So she does the only thing she can (especially after not having him for six months), she kisses him.

(After the credits roll, they'll have long conversations on the couch, where she cries, a lot.)


	11. This Love

"This Love"

He let her leave. On train tracks, him in a suit, her hand on a window.

Flying away.

Somehow his hands felt heavier, without her holding them. And for a while he wasn't sure it would stop.

Finding his dreams was good for him, but a distraction. From everything she ever gave him.

He almost thought he lost it all, when fixing it didn't work.

Running away, from mistakes and all the work.

It brought him to the coast. After years of hiding and wondering, staring at a phone number.

She let him send her away. A solid thing, warm and real. Then a speck in the distance, nothing but a gentle breeze.

Everything was planned, even her dreams. He wasn't. And without him, she wasn't sure she could do it.

Stardom came, with sparkles and smiles to go around.

But when the city held her too close, she went to the coast.

Then some magic brought them back. The tug of a current pulled them from the shore, and the tide brought them in.


	12. I Know Places

"I Know Places"

They were supposed to be their own secret. It was more beautiful that way.

Tucked under arms, covered in cotton sheets.

Until they took a chance, left their safety, and ventured into the wild of the city.

She held his hand because she could and he snuck kisses on her cheek.

It was romance.

Until they left through the doors, onto the sidewalk, the flashes came.

She grabbed his hand tighter and said "run."


	13. Clean

**Author's Note: I've finally finished this collection. It took far too long. I only was working two jobs for a while and it took over my life. But good news is, I've only got one now, so more writing time! My plan is to focus on stories I haven't finished and then move over to a few I've got in the works! "Capes" and "The Farm" are due for some love. Thanks for reading and all your patience! **

**Disclaimer: "1989" is owned by Taylor Swift. **

"Clean"

Driving back she could still smell him on her seats. Windows down, breeze blowing by. He'd settled into every part of her. And for a long time, it was all she'd wished for.

But together, they were this long draught that never seemed to end. Everything about standing under the sun made her thirsty. She wanted warm light, cool wind and rain on Sundays.

Looking ahead the skies were dark, the blue disappearing behind the murky clouds. She had the top down, thought it might blow away every part of him. Help her forget.

It's when she's passing the small diner where she met him that the rain starts.

And as it pours into every crevice, wetting her seats and making her mascara run, she finally feels free.

When it becomes too much she turns around back to the diner. Because she knows there isn't somewhere dry for miles.

The bell dings when she comes inside, dripping wet and sliding into the nearest booth. She's so busy watching the rain, the waiter has to tap her on the shoulder.

"Oh. Hello. I'm so sorry, I was distracted."

"Not a problem, I'm Finn, what can I get you?"

She takes a full glance at his brown eyes, and perfect half grin.

Finally, she feels clean.


End file.
